


Rifts Between Worlds - Rewrite

by TeriTheTacticalUnicorn



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Canon-Typical Violence, Elvhen, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, It's Cullen, Marriage, Modern Character in Thedas, Modern Girl in Thedas, Mutual Pining, Oral Sex, POV Multiple, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Race-changes for our modern ppl, Rewrite, Semi-Public Sex, Slow Build, Solas is his own Warning, Unplanned Pregnancy, Vaginal Sex, do not copy to another site, fast burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-20
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-10-24 09:51:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20704013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeriTheTacticalUnicorn/pseuds/TeriTheTacticalUnicorn
Summary: Here it is my Little Doves! You asked for it and it is the highest ranked fic of mine but I was not happy with the fic as it was. I felt that this rewrite made more sense and had more going on than the previous version. Thank you all so much for your patience with this rewrite. I love all of you and hope you enjoy it. A/N: The shipping has changed, but not by much. Shadow/Cullen, Madison/Cole, Mason/Dorian, and Hank/Josephine.All Dragon Age characters are the sole property of Bioware and EA. Please do not post my work to another site or use my OC's without permission!





	1. Into the Breach

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Rifts Between Worlds (Currently being overhauled and rewritten!)](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15834057) by [TeriTheTacticalUnicorn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeriTheTacticalUnicorn/pseuds/TeriTheTacticalUnicorn). 

> Leave me comments and let me know what you think of the changes. Please do not comment that you don't like the names/race/builds of MY characters. I chose their names for a reason, and it is my story. If you do not like that my MC's name is Shadow, keep it to yourself, please. ~Nia~

Shadow Bastien had her cell phone perched between her shoulder and her ear as she packed her hunting gear into the bed of her truck.  _ “Shadow, don’t forget the hunting tips for your arrows,”  _ her best friend, Madison Klyne, said as Shadow placed her compound bow into the large pink camo case. She shoved a plastic container full of hunting tips in beside it, before latching the case closed and sliding into the back seat.

“I got ‘em, Mads. Anything else her highness requires?” Shadow said, the obvious sarcasm making Madison laugh raucously in Shadow’s ear.

_ “Now that you mention it, could you pick up some Gatorade on your way to your Dad’s?” _ Madison asked, still laughing.

She tossed her sleeping bag under her tree stand and her dad’s hunting blind in the truck bed, answering, “Yeah, I was planning on getting Gatorade and a flat of water on my way out there. Are you already on your way?” 

_ “Yeah, dragged Mason out of bed this morning because he didn’t want to get up. He’s currently asleep in my passenger seat. MACE! Wake your ass up, we’re nearly there,”  _ Madison yelled at her brother. Shadow could hear him grumble some curses at his twin sister.

“Alright, I’m leaving in ten. Love ya,” Shadow said before Madison had the chance to return the sentiment, hanging up. Shadow pulled on her grey hoodie,  _ Mizzou _ emblazoned across the front in black and gold. Her red tresses tumbled over her shoulders as she pulled her hair free of the hood. She tossed her backpack and purse into her passenger seat. Pulling out of her numbered parking spot in front of her O’Fallon apartment, she set out to her dad’s trailer home in Warrenton.

The drive through the suburbs to the countryside put Shadow in a contemplative mood. Missouri wasn’t the most exciting place to live, but it was home. When she was younger, she yearned for adventures and excitement, but now she was glad to have her family nearby, supporting her. 

An hour and a half later, Shadow pulled into the gravel driveway behind Madison’s Dodge Charger. Lucy, her father’s bloodhound, came bounding over with a gaggle of her puppies trailing behind as Shadow opened the door to her pickup. 

“You made it!” Madison said. She wrapped an arm around Shadow’s shoulders.

“Madison, I grew up here. How could I  _ not _ make it?” Shadow snorted as she pulled a bunch of grey Walmart bags out of the back seat of her truck. She tossed the Gatorade bottles into the ice-filled cooler that Mason had left behind his sister’s car. 

“Mason said that you probably got lost,” Madison said, laughing at Shadow’s cocked eyebrow as she pulled another bag full of Gatorade bottles out of her back seat. 

“Where is your brother? Has he run off to complain to Dad yet?” Shadow asked. She pulled apart the end of a soda box, annoyed that Mason wasn’t willing to help them finish loading up their gear.

Madison opened the trunk of her electric blue Dodge and pulled out her sleeping bag: a pink thing with ugly green butterflies scattered all over it. “He was laying on the couch, snoring, the last time I looked. I’m sure Dad’s bacon woke him up though.”

Shadow grinned and shook her head at the sleeping bag, “I don’t know why you don’t just buy a new sleeping bag, Mads. You’ve had that one since our first camping trip, fifteen years ago.” 

Madison tossed the fading, pink bundle of well-worn fabric into the bed of the truck next to Shadow’s new navy blue sleeping bag and grinned, “Dad got it for me, Shadow. It was the first gift I got after my parents died. After getting my best friend as a sister, of course.” 

Shadow and Madison chatted about deer populations and hunting regulations for the half-hour they spent filling coolers and loading the rest of their gear into the bed of Shadow’s truck. A creak made Madison jump as the screen door of the trailer opened loudly.

“Mads, Shadow. Breakfast.” Mason shouted from the wooden porch before turning on his heel, the screen door slamming behind him.

Shadow and Madison slid the last of the shotgun and bow cases into the bed of the truck before heading into the trailer. The screen door creaked, and Shadow’s dad was standing behind the counter island putting food on plates. “Dad, you don’t have to serve us.” Madison said, giggling. Mason was already at the table, his food half gone.

“I like doin’ stuff for you kiddos. Let me spoil ya before we spend the next two weeks in the woods,” Hank said as he placed the plates in front of Shadow and Madison at the small dining table.

Mason finished his breakfast first, quickly washing his plate and setting it in the drying rack on the counter. He grabbed his tent and sleeping bag from the hallway closet, leaving the trailer. 

Shadow swallowed a mouthful of scrambled eggs as one of Lucy’s puppies reared up against her leg, begging to be picked up, “Hey Lucifer, you can’t have my bacon, little dude,” Shadow said, patting the dog’s head as he whined. “Dad, who’s goin’ to feed the dogs while you’re gone?” she asked, taking a bite of the bacon between her fingers.

Hank swallowed his food before answering his daughter, “Nancy and Mike next door. They already bought Trini, the little bleu bloodhound pup. They offered to dogsit while we go huntin’.”

Half an hour passed before everyone had finished eating and watching the weather forecast. “Madison, you remembered to not wear perfume, I’m impressed.” Hank said as he wrapped an arm around his adopted daughter’s shoulders and gave her a side-hug. 

“Don’t want to scare off the deer, right Dad?” Madison replied, smiling. 

Ten minutes later, the group finally got into Shadow’s truck. The engine of the black Silverado roared to life and they were on their way. “Are we going to Uncle Louis’, Dad? I kinda need to know  _ where _ I’m headed,” Shadow asked as her dad scrolled through Facebook on his phone in her passenger seat. 

Hank pulled his face away from his phone for a moment and looked at Shadow. “No, we’re goin’ someplace Mike told me about at the bar last month. It’ll take us about four hours to get there,” he said, handing Shadow a small, crumpled, torn piece of paper he had produced from the pocket of his blue jeans.

She took the piece of paper without taking her eyes off of the road. She placed her wrists on the top of the steering wheel as she smoothed the paper out. “Ashe’s Peake, huh?” Shadow asked, trying to decipher the chicken scratch that was her Dad’s interpretation of handwriting. “What makes it so special?” 

“Lots of deer of course,” her Dad sarcastically offered before looking back down at his phone. After a moment, he paused and looked back up at her, “Though Mike did mention people have been seeing green lights in the sky, they think it’s the Aurora Borealis. Thought it might make the trip more memorable.” 

Shadow stuffed the paper into the pocket of her sweatpants, returning her full attention to the nearly-empty highway. 

__________________________________________________________________________

  
  


Their trip was spent in silence occasionally broken by companionable remarks. Shadow focused on the drive, though the brilliant fall foliage occasionally attracted her gaze. Spotting a broken wooden sign with the words ‘Ashe’s Peak’ engraved on it, Shadow turned the truck onto the small gravel road. She sighed in relief that they had finally made it.

“Remind me why I agreed to this trip again, Shadow?” Mason whined from behind her dad.

“You sound like a toddler, dumbass! You know why you’re here,” Shadow quipped back, sticking out her tongue at him. “It’s a tradition!”

From the back of the cab, Madison remarked, “It’s also a tradition for him to bitch.” 

“Enough of that,” said Hank. “Park over there, Shadow, where the trees are sparse.”

Shadow pulled the truck in between the evergreens, braking and putting it in park. With a few audible sighs and stretching groans, everyone spilled out. The forest smelled fresh and earthy. Twigs crackled underfoot as they moved to unpack everything from the bed of the truck.

Hank took control and began barking out orders. “Let’s get the tarp down over here, in this clearing.” Shadow and Madison lept into action, pulling it out from among a pile of gear. Hank looked for Mason, spotting him quietly edging away from the truck.

“Where are you going, boy?” Hank asked.

“I’m gonna go get some firewood, Hank,” Mason replied. But as he stalked off, Shadow spotted a book peeking out of the back pocket of his jeans.   
  
She ran up behind him, laughing as she yanked the book out of his pocket. “You having story-time with the birds and trees while you’re out?”

“At least I  _ can _ read,” Mason grumbled, flailing wildly as he tried to grab his book out of Shadow’s grasp.

Quietly appearing at Shadow’s shoulder, Hank took the book from her. “Enough. Mason, go help the girls.” He lightly swatted Mason on the back with the book, continuing, “You can read when the camp’s set up.”

__________________________________________________________________________

  
  


Several hours later, the large, eight-person tent was set up on the tarp. A fire roared in a makeshift pit where Shadow cooked their supper. “What are you making, Shadow? Smells like breakfast,” Madison said as she dropped an armful of firewood down next to the folding chairs.

“Bherdie, the stuff with the chicken and cheese that Mason loves. Figured it might improve his mood a bit,” Shadow said as she pulled the skillet off the fire.

They gathered around the fire to eat, paper plates balanced on their laps. Mason’s eyes lit up when he saw what Shadow had prepared. 

“Oh, thank god. I thought we were going to be eating twigs and berries,” Mason said. 

Madison cocked a brow as she swallowed a bite of the Bherdie, “If you want twigs and berries, Mace, we can still go forage.” 

Mason scowled slightly, but kept on eating with gusto. 

The rest of the meal went by quickly, with little conversation as they ate. Everyone leaned back in their chairs, satisfied smiles all around. Hank looked to the sky and pointed, “The lights! Check it out, Mike wasn’t full of it after all!”

Shadow stood up quickly and turned in the direction Hank indicated. Sure enough, green lights danced around the peak of the mountain. They glittered in the sky, sweeping down the slope until her view was obstructed by the trees. 

“Looks like something out of a movie,” said Madison, awe plain on her features.

“Looks like something from  _ Dragon Age,” _ Shadow smirked, moving to see the phenomenon better.

“You and your lame video games. It’s like from this one episode on the  _ History  _ channel, where the Nazis…”

“Enough, Mason!” Hank interjected. “Why do you even watch that shit?”

Mason rolled his eyes and tossed his empty paper plate into the fire pit. “Whatever, I’m going to bed,” he said, as he unzipped the opening of the tent. 

Shadow rolled her ocean-blue eyes and scoffed at Mason, “Stop being an asshat, Mace.” Mason’s figure disappeared inside, and he could be heard rummaging around, presumably getting into his sleeping bag.

“Maybe it’s time for the rest of us to get settled in, too,” Hank said, yawning.

Madison gazed at the night sky, reflections of the mysterious green lights glimmering in her eyes. “But it’s so pretty,” she said.

Shadow couldn’t help but agree: the lights  _ were _ beautiful. But the otherworldly green glow filled her with a sense of unease. She grabbed Madison by the shoulder, turning her away from the heavenly phenomenon. “Let’s head to bed.” Shadow cast one more suspicious look at the sky, wondering why the sight troubled her.

  
  
  


A cold draft pulled Shadow from her warm, dream-filled slumber. Shivering, she opened her eyes in the darkness, tightening her cocoon of blankets around her. Madison and Mason were still sound asleep beside her, but she noticed that her Dad’s sleeping bag was empty. 

Shadow quietly got up and moved toward the tent’s opening, fabric flapping in the frigid breeze. She slipped on her boots and stepped outside. 

“What the actual fuck?” Shadow exclaimed as she slowly sank into ankle-deep snow. Hank stood a few feet away, back towards her. “Dad, what is this? The weather was supposed to be nice for the next week!”

Hank looked back at her over his shoulder, scratching his beard. “I’m not sure, hun. I’ve been standing out here for an hour, and I still don’t know what to make of it.” 

Shadow slowly turned in place, taking in the landscape. More than just the weather had changed; the rolling Missouri foothills had transformed into tall, craggy mountains. A thick, dense blanket of evergreens replaced the colorful, autumn-touched trees. 

Shadow shivered with more than a simple chill. Fear tinged her voice as she asked, “Where are we?”


	2. Collision Course

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Conclave explodes.
> 
> Beta: sutsop

**Chapter Two**

  
  


Shadow shot what she now recognized as a nug, arrow right through the eye. They had been stranded in what she believed was Thedas for almost two weeks now. Between the strange wildlife and the surrounding flora, it was hard to imagine they could be anywhere else. She had found fucking elfroot!

Shadow decided to keep her wild theories to herself for the time being; her Dad and Mason would just think she had played too many video games.  _ Madison would believe me, but Madison believed pigs could actually fly for an entire year when she was nine. _

Hank grabbed up the ‘hairless rabbit’ and they made their way back to what they hoped was the direction they had come. Emerging from the thick treeline, no one expected to be blasted back by a giant green explosion. 

“Shit! I fucking told you we were in Thedas!” Shadow yelled as she ran towards the valley in front of them, following the road to a bridge they had been watching for two days. Hank and Mason each grabbed their bows; Madison had been knocked against a tree and was lying unconscious in the snow.

“Get Madison across that bridge and into Haven. I’ll meet you there!” Shadow said as she watched the sky begin to swirl. A demon rose up from the ground in front of Shadow. She started to shoot arrows into it’s strange head. She saw soldiers running across the bridge towards the swirling, yellow-green hole in the sky that was spitting out fucking demons. 

After she loosed another arrow into a terror demon, a shock of red caught her eye. "Cullen?" she said aloud. She followed at a distance, looting the body of an unfortunate female Templar before making herself known. 

***

Three days passed. Three days of fighting, sleeping on a bedroll in full armor, eating. Repeat. Shadow had gained a set of armor and a more Thedosian style bow from the Templar before joining the fray, hoping not to draw too much attention to herself in her jeans and hoodie, which were carefully stashed in her canvas knapsack. 

No one really questioned her.They barely looked at her. Until she refused a Lyrium draught on the third day. Cullen eyed her cautiously, but almost admirably. Her newly pointed ears probably raised questions, but her face was bare like a city elf.She was  _ a Templar _ , refusing lyrium- that meant something to Cullen.

The last day, she was back to back with 'Cullen fucking Rutherford' as Mason called him, fighting off everything that poured out of the rift at the entrance of the destroyed temple. It was late in the day before Shadow saw Cassandra and the Herald of Andraste join the men and women there. The soldiers were tired, some gravely injured. 

The Herald was small, a young elvhen woman with Mythal's vallaslin in a forest green tattooed on most of her face. Her hair was the color of copper and she carried a staff. That's when Shadow fainted from exhaustion.  _ Bull's gonna  _ love _ her  _ was Shadow’s last thought before blackness consumed her.

  
  
  


Shadow woke with a start and tried to sit up, wincing in pain and falling back onto a cot. She looked down to see that her ribs were badly bruised. A worried hand grasped hers before she could see clearly. 

"Shadow, you-you're ok!" Madison said, a sigh escaping her trembling lips. She was dressed in tight leather breeches, and one of her camisoles with a dark leather vest over it. Her blonde wavy hair fell down her back as she shifted a sword away from her in annoyance. She looked like a refugee from the Hinterlands, save for her pointed ears and tribal tattoos that covered her left arm and hand. 

" _ The _ Commander Cullen carried you out of the Valley himself," Madison whispered to Shadow as Cullen stepped into the tent with Shadow's dad at his side. Golden eyes met sapphire eyes, and he smirked at her from the tent's entrance. Mason squeezed by the two, who were talking like old friends.

"Shadow, you're ok!" he said as he hugged his sisters. Cullen had taken his eyes off the group of siblings.

An hour later, Madison helped her sister into a loose cotton shirt that was two sizes too large before helping her to another large canvas tent. It was set up with cots, a small clothing chest, and an armor stand; which held her new Templar armor. Someone had cleaned the blood off and polished it. 

"This is our tent? Madison… what did you do?" Shadow asked, accusingly. 

"Don't look at me! I've been with you since the Commander brought you back to Haven last night," she said as Mason blushed scarlet.

"Mason?" Shadow asked, sitting down gently on one of the cots.

"I-- uh-- may have let slip how you knew to go to the Conclave…" he admitted.

"MASON!" Shadow and Madison said in angry unison. "Are you trying to get us killed? They don't know what any of our technology is, what it does, where we're from! If we want to survive, we need to fit in," Madison said,. Realizing she was yelling, she lowered her voice.

"Calm down, I told them you  _ saw _ it happen before it did. Nothing else.," Mason said, his hands in front of him in a defensive stance.

"Hello?" A small voice came from outside the tent.

Shadow stood, sucking in a breath as she stepped outside the tent. A small elf girl _ , the Herald, _ stood there with a mug of something smelling just like coffee. "Is that…?"

Josephine stepped up to the two Elven women, "Antivan coffee. As a thanks for your heroism on the field.," Josie said before nodding.

Cassandra joined soon after. "Ah, so this is the Seer. She looks like a regular woman to me." Cassandra scoffed at Shadow's slight frame, pointed ears and bare face.

"You're from Nevarra, part of the royal family. You arrested Varric Tethras, an Author from Kirkwall, and forced him to tell you about his friend Hawke…" Shadow said nonchalantly as she sipped the bitter drink happily.

Cassandra's eyes went wide and her jaw slack before she smirked. "You may be useful, Lady Seer." 

"Have resources been sought out yet? We will need a good stockpile of Elfroot and embrium for wounds and jars of bees.," Madison said as she led Cassandra away from the tent.

Half an hour passed, and Josephine insisted on Shadow's presence in the war room in the morning. "Your advice would be invaluable during our meetings, Lady Bastien. Especially with your gift," Josephine said as she nodded and retreated into the Chantry. The Herald's name was Ashana Lavellan and she was almost emaciated. She was so thin and small for a woman of twenty-three. Shadow was only four years older than she, but she had grown up where there was always plenty to eat. 

Shadow and Ashana headed to the tavern to have their supper and talked over some exceptional ale. 

"Thank you for your advice, Shadow. I will see you on the morrow.," Ashana said as she escaped to her cabin for the night. 

Shadow meandered through Haven slowly, taking in everything. It was much larger than the video game suggested; there were tents shoved into every available space without them spilling into walkways. She realized that their tent was right next to Cullen's. It made sense, she was an important part of the Inquisition to these people. 

Shadow sat on a tree stump next to her tent as she watched the sun go down. The light faded, but never really turned to night as the breach lit up the sky.  _ Like a borealis. I should've realized. _ She chastised herself for not connecting the rift on Ashe's Peake and one out of her game.

But she hadn't, and now she had to be careful with her words


End file.
